Current dental floss string containers serve simply to house the floss string, its spool and in some cases, help facilitate the cutting of the floss string to a desired length via a sharpened bevel on one side of the floss container.
Despite daily brushing and rinsing with anti-bacterial mouthwashes, the surfaces between teeth are still prone to cavities. As a result, interproximal cleaning devices such as dental floss and interdental brushes have been highly touted and recommended by the dental profession for effective oral hygiene. The devices are however insufficient, particularly with regards to stubborn plaque removal, ease of use, and overall consumer experience.
Moreover, despite the plethora of beneficial oral care ingredients and actives that could be incorporated into floss string, there is still not yet a universal, rapid method to effectively impregnate a variety of different actives into the floss string. Moreover, methods that assert to do so are hampered by high cost, issues with manufacture and processability of the fibre, and its long-term stability.
While these teachings may overcome some of these issues and hurdles, without major upheaval in the daily oral care habits and practices of the consumer, they still leave much to be desired. For example, the current attempts are insufficient due to costs, fluid leakage or high effort requirements to pull floss through overly restrictive passages in an attempt to keep the passages fluid tight, even causing breakage of the floss inside the dispenser. Thus it would be beneficial to provide a dispenser that rapidly coats or activates the floss with oral care ingredients as the floss is unwound from its spool and easily pulled through the floss dispenser while preventing fluid leakage within the dispenser.